As many consumers seek to replace their older, existing control system operated equipment, the selection of the new replacement equipment is a critical decision that will significantly affect the entire system in which the new equipment will operate. The replacement equipment will affect the current and future ability of the system to achieve true process optimization. Therefore, the consumer must use due diligence to carefully select the replacement equipment.
However, if the consumer wishes to analyze a new product and its operating data to aid in the selection process before purchase and installation, this information typically is provided to the consumer in the form of technical sheets. Consumers have to compare the operational data of the new product outlined on the technical sheet to their current systems and industry related data without the aid of a visual simulation. Normally, the consumers do not understand the complex, technical operating parameters on the technical sheet data and how they compare to the their current system. To avoid this tedious task, some consumers may want to use conventional simulation software to create a visual simulation model of the new product and its operation.
However, one of the problems with conventional simulation systems is that the most accurate simulation models are too expensive to be deployed on local systems. In addition, the most accurate simulation models have storage requirements that exceed the available storage of the local data storage. Furthermore, when any changes are made to the current system, the simulation models become obsolete.
Rather than using the resources of the local systems, a growing trend is that users are employing cloud computing to generate simulation models, which is the use of computing resources, hardware and software, that are delivered as a service over a network. Typically, cloud computing services in the public cloud are hosted on the Internet, managed and maintained by third-party providers. Users access cloud computing using networked user devices, such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Since the users do not own the infrastructure and are merely accessing or renting, they can avoid the initial capital expenditure and instead consume computing resources as a service.
With cloud computing, instead of installing and maintaining applications on every user device in order to interact with the data that may be spread across one or more devices, data is encapsulated in applications that are hosted as services on servers and delivered from those servers to the devices as clients.
There is a need for a system that provides a visually appealing, interactive and informative mechanism for a consumer to learn about a system before purchasing it. There is a need for a system that enables a user to easily generate a simulation model of the user's existing equipment operating in the user's current system and a simulation model of the new product operating in the user's current system.
There is a need for the system to provide a comparison of the relative benefits of the operation of the two simulated models. There also remains a need to optimize the operation of the user's system by generating enhanced simulation models that are forward-looking and take into account, for example, external market conditions and environmental regulations, to maximize the current and future profitability of the user's system.